Somebody I Used to Know
by Lilikoi2
Summary: AU ish  Future-fic. Emma's refusal to confront her sexuality and Jenny's infidelity with Ben prevent the girls' relationship from progressing in high school. Estranged for five years after graduating from Pestalozzi, the couple meet again ...
1. Chapter 1

**I love this pairing so much I just couldn't resist writing about them. Unfortunately I don't speak any German so my interpretation of how the characters speak is based entirely on translations ... I hope it's not too far off! Thanks for reading**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter one<strong>

Emma's fingers slipped around the freezing metal of her bike-lock as she pushed it into place with a hollow clunk. The snow was deep, up to Emma's ankles, and it soaked through the denim of her jeans. Her bike was old, rattling metallically as she shook it to make sure it was secure. It had spent too many winters out in the cold like this. Emma sighed, puffing a mist of warm breath out into the freezing air, glancing up at the bright blue sky that betrayed the coldness of the weather before pushing through the door of '_Bauer's Book Corner'_.

The small bell suspended above the door tinkled quietly as it opened – a quaint touch that drove Emma crazy when the shop was busy. She had threatened to remove the bell on many occasions, but even standing on a chair she was far too short to actually manage the operation.

'Good morning Emma,' said Hotte, smiling at her from the counter, a coffee cup in his hand and another steaming beside his elbow. 'How are you this fine morning? I've made coffee.'

'How can you be so cheerful in weather like this?' she asked him grumpily, unwinding her scarf from around her neck.

'How can you _not _be?' Hotte replied. 'The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the snow looks like frosting on a beautiful wedding cake ...'

'It's Monday, it's below zero, I can't feel my face, my arse is numb ...' Emma continued his list for him.

'Oh Emma,' Hotte shook his head slightly with a sympathetic smile. 'You can never look on the bright side, can you?'

Emma rolled her eyes at her friend, not in the mood for his particular brand of naive optimism this early in the morning. She rubbed her hands together feverishly in an effort to get some generate some warmth. The skin of her hands was red and raw from the bitter wind and it felt like the cold had wrapped around her bones. As she shrugged her thick coat from her shoulders her gaze fell upon an unopened letter by the door, addressed to the bookstore. Frowning, she crouched down to pick it up, her frozen fingers fumbling slightly as she tore open the envelope and withdrew the document from inside.

She scanned the letter quickly, her expression changing rapidly from quizzical to incredulous as she read. 'Hotte!' she shouted, making him jump slightly with her suddenness and volume and slop his coffee over the veneer of the counter. 'Have you heard anything about this?'

Hotte looked at her expectantly. 'About what?' he asked, dabbing at the spillage with his sleeve.

Emma waved the letter at him urgently. 'About this entire street of shops being knocked down to make way for a new hotel?'

'What?' Hotte asked, quickly moving from the counter to Emma's side. He snatched the letter from her and pulled it up close to his face, his eyes narrowing behind his thick-rimmed glasses. 'What complete crap!' he exclaimed, his good mood finally faltering. 'They can't do that, surely?'

Emma snatched the letter back from him, inspecting the sender's address. 'Hartmann Hotel Corporation,' she read out loud. 'I've never even heard of them,' she muttered, studying the letter more closely, as if expecting to discover that it was nothing more than a terrible mistake.

'I see you've heard the news,' a man's voice drifted across the room. Emma and Hotte looked up from the letter to see Herr Bauer leaning against the doorframe to the back room, watching them. He removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes, his skin creasing like paper. He looked tired.

'You knew about this?' Emma asked, as she and Hotte dashed across the small shop towards him.

'I'm afraid so,' he answered, not bothering to look at the letter Emma offered him. 'I've been contacted on a number of occasions about the matter.'

'But ...' Emma stammered, unable to quite comprehend the situation, 'but ... they can't just buy you out like this ...' she told him. 'This is _your_ shop.'

Herr Bauer smiled sadly. 'I'm afraid I'm just a lowly tenant. The property belongs to Hartmann Holdings.'

'Oh,' Emma said forlornly.

'Then ... there's nothing we can do?' Hotte asked.

'Believe me, if there was, I would have done it,' Herr Bauer assured them. 'I'm sorry you've had to find out this way. I didn't want you to know until I was absolutely certain I'd exhausted all options of preventing it from happening,' he told them as he turned to retreat into the back room.

Emma and Hotte exchanged a look of dejection.

'Although,' he added, turning back around, 'we are being honoured with a visit from their Chief Executive at 12 o'clock today,' he revealed, and Emma wondered if his tone wasn't slightly sarcastic, 'to discuss compensation.'

'Wouldn't a chief executive send a minion to do that kind of dirty work?' Hotte speculated.

'I'll think you'll find that a lot of businesses like to give power a human face,' Herr Bauer told Hotte, 'to make you think they're capable of great things, including compassion.'

'Even when they're stabbing you in the back?' Emma asked, her words harsh and sharp.

'_Especially_ when they're stabbing you in the back,' Herr Bauer replied, with the wise, almost cynical smile Emma had grown to love over the years she'd worked for him. 'Don't worry Frau Müller, you two are young, hardworking ... you'll find other jobs.'

'And you?' Emma asked.

Herr Bauer shrugged. 'I'm old,' he said as he replaced his glasses. 'The world has other plans for me.'

* * *

><p>'I just can't believe it,' Hotte said for the seventeenth time that morning.<p>

Emma just sighed and glanced agitatedly at her watch – 11:55. The prospect of losing the bookstore made her heart hurt. Over the past two years she'd grown so attached to it; it would almost be like losing a part of herself. She'd always had trouble fitting in, or feeling like she truly belonged anywhere. With three other sisters all clamouring for attention she was used to being overlooked when she was growing up, and, well, the less said about her teenage years the better. It's not like she had any lofty goals, she'd never expected to be the best at anything, but somehow the little bookstore had provided her with at least the tiniest sense of belonging. And of self-worth.

'We can't just let it go so easily,' she said, banging her fist down on the counter in frustration.

'And what do you suggest we do?' Hotte asked.

'I don't know,' Emma said, glancing around the room in search of inspiration. 'Maybe we ... sweet talk the Chief Executive into giving up the hotel?'

'Yeah ... great plan,' Hotte said scornfully.

'...or relocating it?' Emma suggested. 'Or ... we convince him that this place is so great that they just have to keep it ... maybe as _part_ of the hotel?'

Hotte frowned at her. 'Do you seriously rate your negotiation skills that highly?'

'...well...I...'

'This guy's going to be a serious suit.' Hotte told her. 'His _tie_ is probably going to be worth more than this shop. He'll own houses and hotels from here to Abu Dhabi. And you think that _you're_ the person to talk him out of a lucrative business venture?'

'Jesus, thanks for the support,' Emma sighed.

'I'm a realist,' Hotte told her.

'I thought you were a utopian,' she muttered agitatedly.

'Not today.'

Emma sighed again. 'Fine, if you don't want to stand up for this place ... then I guess I'll just have to do it myself.'

'Well, now's your chance,' Hotte replied, gesturing to the ominous flickering of movement through the frosted glass of the shop door. 'I think our VIP has just arrived.' He held up his wrist and tapped the face of his watch at Emma. 12:00.

Emma turned to face the door, straightening out her shirt and smoothing her hair. Her heart hammered with nerves, those same nerves she always seemed afflicted with whenever she was under pressure, but she fisted her hands tightly at her sides, determined not to give in to her already overwhelming urge to give up. She clenched her jaw and let out a slow, steady breath. She'd not let this bookstore go without a fight.

The bell tinkled as the door opened and Emma gasped in a sharp, shocked breath as the Chief Executive wandered slowly and unassumingly into the store, glancing at her surroundings with gracious interest until she caught sight of Emma, and froze.

'No _way_,' Hotte whispered.

'_Jenny_ Hartmann,' Emma breathed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks so much to anyone who's read and/or reviewed :) it makes me very happy**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter two<strong>

Emma felt like all of the breath had been knocked out of her. Her stomach twisted painfully and the cold, quick spread of panic flushed through her body. _Jenny. That same perfect face and that smooth skin and those impossibly blue eyes._

Jenny seemed to quickly recover from her initial shock, composing herself and smiling a small, polite smile. But her eyes lingered upon Emma, focusing her with their concentrated, captivating, dark-rimmed blue. 'Good afternoon,' she said.

Emma's throat suddenly felt very dry, and she found that she couldn't speak. Or think. Jenny's gaze always had the power to leave her stunned and silent and thoroughly confused. Even now, five years after seeing her for the last time, she effortlessly short-circuited Emma's brain. Faintly, she became aware of Hotte's voice.

'Hello Jenny,' Hotte was saying, 'I mean ... _Frau Hartmann_,' he corrected himself.

Jenny rolled her eyes at the formality and smiled a peculiar, almost self-conscious smile, before looking back at Emma, who hadn't managed to engage the necessary motor skills to speak or even blink since Jenny arrived. 'Hello Dennis, Emma,' Jenny said, slowly, respectively. 'This is certainly a ... surprise.'

'You're telling me!' Hotte agreed, his good-natured grin resurfacing for the first time since they'd read the letter. 'It's been ages, how have you been?' he asked.

'Oh ...you know,' Jenny shrugged, trailing her fingers absently along the spine of a book on the shelf beside her, 'same old ... running a business empire. You know how it is,' she said, her smile confident again.

'I'm afraid I don't,' Hotte replied. He stared at her for a few long seconds. 'So ... _you're _ CEO Hartmann,' he said, placing a thoughtful finger to his lips as if he was pondering a problem. 'I've got to say, I never would have thought it,' he admitted.

'And why not?' Jenny asked, amusement sparkling in her eyes and dimpling her cheeks.

'Because you're _Jenny Hartmann_,' Hotte told her, slightly too emphatically. 'You were always ...so ... so ...,' he searched for the appropriate word, 'free.'

Jenny's smile faltered slightly, and her eyes flicked briefly back to Emma. 'Well, anyway,' she said, hitching her handbag further onto her shoulder, 'I have an appointment with Herr Bauer which,' she glanced at her watch, 'I'm now late for, so ... if you'll excuse me ...'

'Wait Jenny,' Hotte said, urgently, 'Emma had ... um ... something she wanted to say to you.' He nudged Emma hard in the side with a bony elbow.

The jolt startled Emma back to life and she snapped her head up to look at Hotte, blinking rapidly in bewilderment before looking back at Jenny. 'I ... um ...' she stammered as Jenny raised an eyebrow in curiosity. 'It's ... just ... it's ... it's nothing. Don't worry,' she mumbled, bowing her head and averting her gaze towards her shoes.

Jenny lingered for a few more seconds, as if waiting to see if Emma would look back up. But she didn't. 'Very well,' she said.

Hotte watched her disappear through the door to Herr Bauer's office and sighed heavily. 'Well, your plan went fantastically well,' he muttered at Emma. 'Which part of your complete silence was supposed to convince her to back out of the deal?'

Emma didn't answer.

'Emma? ... Emma?' Hotte asked, flashing his hand across her vision to break her vacant stare. 'Are you OK?' he asked as she finally looked at him in response.

'Yeah ... no,' she answered, 'I suddenly don't feel so good.' She slumped down heavily into a chair and ran a hand through her hair.

Hotte studied her for a moment before speaking. 'You don't um ...' he hesitated, unsure as to whether he should continue. 'You don't still have a ... _thing_ ... with Jenny do you?' he asked, tentatively.

Emma looked up at him with wide, alarmed eyes. 'A _thing_?' she repeated. 'What _thing_?'

'I don't know,' Hotte said with a shrug, and Emma allowed herself to exhale in relief. 'In high school you were hot and cold with her _all_ the time ... then I caught you kissing that time ...'

'Hotte,' Emma warned, 'if you want to keep _any_ of your reproductive organs, I'd suggest that you shut up right now.'

'OK,' he conceded, holding his hands up in surrender, 'just wondering. You look like you've seen a ghost, that's all.'

* * *

><p>'They've been in there for hours,' Hotte whispered, scanning the barcode of a book for a customer. 'Six ninety-five,' he told the customer, opening his palm to receive the note she extracted from her purse. 'Maybe she's killed him,' he speculated.<p>

Emma just rolled her eyes. 'Do you listen to yourself when you're talking?' she asked him irritably.

Hotte sighed as the tray of the cash register opened with a ping. 'When are you going to snap out of it?' he asked, picking the appropriate change from the tray and handing it over. 'You've been in a foul mood all afternoon. Thanks very much,' Hotte added to the customer. 'And please continue to support our business,' he called after her as she moved away. 'We don't know how much longer we'll be here.'

The customer stopped and turned back around, her interest piqued. 'Why do you say that?' she asked.

'We're being closed down,' Hotte told her.

'Shut up Hotte,' Emma hissed. 'That's confidential information.'

'Why?' he asked. 'Everyone's going to find out sooner or later.'

'That's a real shame,' the customer said. 'This is pretty much my favourite bookshop in all of Cologne.' She sighed sadly. 'I wish such lovely places weren't so dispensable,' she said, shrugging slightly before turning around again and walking towards the door. The bell tinkled cheerfully as she left.

'That's perfect,' Hotte said excitedly, turning to Emma.

'What's perfect?' Emma asked, as disinterestedly as she could manage.

'Jenny thinks this place is dispensable, we just have to make it _indispensable_,' Hotte told her, with all the confidence of having stumbled upon a brilliant idea.

'What do you even mean?' Emma asked.

'If we could prove that this shop is an asset to the Hartmann Company, then we might be able to convince her not to give it up,' Hotte explained. 'We need to look at sales, losses, expenses ...' he listed on his fingers, 'find out how much profit this store is really making. And then find a way to double it. _Triple_ it even,' he suggested boldly.

'That's great Hotte,' Emma said, unpinning her name badge, 'but as of now, I officially don't care,' she slammed the badge down on the counter. 'My shift's over.'

'Emma,' Hotte said, frustratedly. 'You and I _both_ know this is more than a job to you.'

Emma sighed. 'Look Hotte, you want to crunch numbers all night that's fine,' she told him. 'I've got better things to do. I'll see you in the morning,' she added, before collecting her coat and roughly tugging it on. She threw her scarf around her neck quickly and dashed out of the door before Hotte could make another appeal for her help.

The daylight was already beginning to dwindle as she hastily unlocked her bike and wheeled it out to the curb. She hated this weather, when the days seemed so short and cold and it felt like winter might never end. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the handlebars of the bike to swing her leg over the saddle and she internally cursed her inability to ever remember to put on her gloves before she left the house.

She fiddled with the wire of her earphones, threading it through a button hole in her coat. The journey was too long and dull to attempt it without listening to music. As she began to pedal she fumbled distractedly with the buttons of her ipod, skipping through songs as she turned slowly out into the street. Finally she selected a song and began thumbing the volume control as she brushed her scarf back around her neck that had somehow fallen from her shoulder and

BANG

Emma felt the ground come into sharp, painful contact with her back. She lifted her head slowly to see the burning red brake-lights of a large, black car. 'Shit,' she muttered, looking down see herself lying unceremoniously in the road, her bike draped across her legs.

'Jesus,' said a voice which was followed by the sharp banging of a car door. 'Emma?'

Emma slowly tried to sit up, only to be confronted with a distraught Jenny dashing towards her. _No no no. Not her._

Jenny crouched down beside Emma, her eyes bright and intense with concern as she laid a hand gently against Emma's shoulder. 'Are you OK?' she asked urgently, her hair falling softly about her face as she leaned forward.

'I ... I think so,' Emma said, withdrawing visibly from Jenny's touch. Jenny removed her hand from Emma's shoulder and instead offered it for Emma to take. 'We've got to stop meeting like this,' Jenny said, her smile resurfacing tentatively.

'You could say that again,' Emma said, ignoring Jenny's hand and awkwardly clambering to her feet. 'Oh,' she said sadly, looking down to see the front wheel bent out of all recognition.

'What were you doing?' Jenny asked. 'Did you not see me?'

'I guess not,' Emma said. 'Did you not see me?'

'Not until it was too late,' Jenna admitted, following Emma's gaze to her bike, pulling a sympathetic face as she too noticed the damaged wheel. 'I'm so sorry,' she said, genuinely. 'I'll pay for the repairs,' Jenny told her.

Emma shook her head. 'Don't bother. Please. It was mostly my fault,' she insisted, leaning down and heaving the bike up from the road to the safety of the pavement. The mangled shape of the front wheel prevented it from turning, and it dragged cumbersomely along the ground, gathering snow like a plough.

'At least let me drive you home?' Jenny offered, walking quickly to catch up with Emma. 'You shouldn't be wandering around in the cold after a bump like that,' she advised.

'It's fine, really,' Emma told her. 'I'd rather walk,' she added, before turning and wheeling her bike along the pavement, moving determinedly and briskly away.

She could feel Jenny's gaze on her as she watched her go.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry, really couldn't resist reusing the old bike incident. Oldest trick in book, Jenny ;)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**My goodness I could really get addicted to reading your lovely reviews :) **

**Bit of insight into Jenny's life in this chapter. Hope you like it! Thanks so much for reading**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

Jenny stared blankly through the windscreen as she waited at the traffic lights. She had watched Emma scurry away down the road until she'd turned a sharp corner that obscured her from view. Jenny sighed heavily, finally enabling the hands-free system in her car to check her phone messages, a task she'd been disturbed from doing by Emma gracelessly slamming into her door. The phone began bleeping and hiccupping with messages and reminders the second she turned it on, and Jenny sighed again. She was used to incessant phone calls, they came with the territory really, but sometimes their obtrusive persistence left her with an irrational desire to fling the unassuming object from the nearest window.

'Hi Mario,' she said, pressing the button to answer an incoming call from her secretary.

'Hey Jen, how did the Bauer meeting go?' asked a smooth male voice on the other end.

'Pretty much as expected,' Jenny answered, her gaze trained upon the red glare of traffic lights as the stationary car hummed quietly. 'He's quite violently opposed to the thought of losing his business. Won't go down without a fight. He's talking about getting a lawyer involved.'

'I thought he might,' Mario revealed, 'so I consulted with our legal team. They don't think he's got a case. That property belongs to Hartmann Holdings, and has done ever since Bauer sold it to your Father. A lawyer would be a massive waste of his time and money.'

'Great,' Jenny said, easing down on the accelerator as the lights changed from red to green. The car growled forwards slowly.

'Could you sound any less enthusiastic?' Mario asked.

Jenny rolled her eyes. 'Sorry, just ... long day,' she mumbled.

'Come on, tell Uncle Mario,' he said, and Jenny allowed herself a small smile. Somehow, over the last few years, with long working hours perpetually blurring the boundaries between her professional and personal life, Mario had ended up being her best friend.

'I ...' Jenny paused, considering how to phrase her problem, 'I just saw someone I used to know, years ago, working at the bookstore,' she said. 'Made me feel a bit strange.'

'Oh yeah?' Mario asked with interest. 'Are we talking 'used to know' in a strictly platonic capacity; or 'used to know' in a hot, steamy, naked capacity?'

Jenny laughed at Mario's shameless lack of subtlety. 'Neither,' she admitted, indicating a right turn off the main highway. 'Someone from high school that I ...' she paused again, steering the car into the turn. _Had Emma really been anything more than a friend?_ 'I guess it was somewhere in between those definitions.'

'Ah ...' Mario said, catching on. 'The unrequited love of adolescence.'

'Something like that,' Jenny muttered, not wishing to dwell on it.

'So ... the myth of Jennifer Hartmann slowly unravels,' Mario speculated.

'Oh leave it out Mario,' Jenny told him. 'Anyway, it's not important. Though there is a ding in my car I need you to square with the insurers.'

'What happened?' Mario asked. Jenny could hear him typing the memo.

'I don't know,' Jenny lied. 'It happened while I was in the meeting.'

'Sounds like a pretty eventful day,' Mario observed.

'Could say that,' Jenny agreed. She tried her best to listen as Mario informed her of her schedule for the rest of the week and not let her mind drift to thoughts of Emma, but somehow, that simple task seemed thoroughly impossible. She thought about how Emma had looked, all bewildered and spread-eagled in the snow-lined road, looking up at her. That same flawless face and impossibly pale skin, her nose and ears tinged with red from the cold, and those wide, hazel eyes, alert and questioning, not quite believing what they were looking upon as her soft lips parted in shock ...

'Jenny?' Mario asked sharply, and Jenny quickly snapped back into focus.

'Y-Yeah?' she asked uncertainly.

'What do you think we should do?' Mario asked.

'Um ...' Jenny bit her lip, completely ignorant as to what Mario was even referring to. 'I think ... we should ...'

'... You've not been listening have you?' Mario asked.

'Not exactly.'

Mario sighed dramatically. 'So who was he? This high school hunk. Captain of the debating team?' he joked.

'Not exactly,' Jenny repeated. 'And ... besides, I'm _not_ thinking about them!' she insisted. 'Just because you dream about boys all day, doesn't mean I do,' she reminded him. Mario was terrifically, unashamedly, flamboyantly gay, and it was one of the many things Jenny loved about him.

Mario chuckled. 'Touché Hartmann. Look, I'll send you an email about this stuff,' he decided. 'Go home, get some rest.'

'Yeah, thanks Mario. See you in the morning,' she said as she ended the call. Her phone buzzed urgently a few more times, but Jenny flicked on the radio, turning the volume up loud to drown it out.

Darkness descended quickly as she drove.

* * *

><p>Jenny scooped up her bag and folders from the passenger seat before she climbed out of the car. Closing her door, she paused to lean forward and inspect the vertical dent in the bodywork. She traced the crumpled metal gently with the tip of her finger. <em>Emma Muller<em>. Even the name filled her with a strange, anxious feeling. She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to push away the unwelcome sensation before she straightened up and walked towards the elevator that led from the basement car park to her apartment on the third floor. She couldn't care less about the damage really, she thought, as she aimed the keypad behind her in the car's general direction to lock it. The car belonged to the company, she got a new one every year.

She flung her keys and bag onto the kitchen sideboard as soon as she got through her front door, and carelessly kicked her shoes from her feet. Her apartment was dark and empty. It always seemed so uninviting, and Jenny spent as little time there as she possibly could, especially at the moment, when the whole place smelled like paint and dust-sheets covered most of the furniture. It was being redecorated – just another company benefit stemming from the desire to increase the value of their properties. Everything was an investment, Jenny had learned; a way to accumulate value. Nothing ever really felt like it was hers.

Jenny stilled, suddenly, her hand poised to press the light switch. She sensed movement from the kitchen – a faint, gentle rustling from the corner of the room – and she smiled as she realised that her nightly visitor had arrived. She was grateful, she could use the company; the reassurance that only he seemed able to provide. He was a loner like her, answerable to no one, owned by no one, never staying in the same place for long, moving on whenever it suited him, guided only by his instinctual desire for comfort and warmth.

'I know you're here,' she said quietly, and the rustling stilled. Jenny gently padded further into the kitchen, narrowing her eyes in the darkness, trying to bring the ambiguous forms and shadows into focus.

Two bright eyes flashed back at her in the dark.

'Hello Luther,' Jenny said softly as the cat sprang from the floor up onto the counter beside her.

Jenny reached out and stroked her fingers through his short, ginger fur and a soft, low purr rumbled from his chest. 'And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?' she inquired. 'Were you just lonely?' she asked him.

The cat lifted itself onto his hind legs to bump his face more forcefully against Jenny's palm.

'Come on then,' Jenny said, rolling her eyes and walking over to the fridge. Luther followed tight at her heels as she opened the door. She squinted at the abrupt intrusion of bright light from the poorly-stocked fridge as she took out a small dish of cooked fish. 'You're only with me for my food aren't you,' she asked Luther as she placed the dish on the floor in from of him. Jenny watched him eat from a few moments before moving out into the living room. She flipped the living room light on and collapsed on the sofa, tucking her feet up beneath her and closing her eyes.

Luther followed her after a few minutes, springing deftly onto the arm of the sofa and arranging himself into an elegant sitting position beside her.

'I saw someone today,' Jenny said, stroking her hand along the soft fur of his back as he purred contentedly. 'A girl,' she clarified as Luther stretched out his front legs, splaying his claws. 'She was very beautiful,' Jenny continued. 'Even more beautiful than I remembered.' Jenny sighed heavily, opening her eyes and running a hand through her hair. 'But she's no good for me,' she told Luther, who looked at her earnestly, as if aware he was being addressed. 'The way she looked at me today. Like _really _looked at me ... like she used to ... it made me feel so weak. So _vulnerable. _You know? Like in just one look, you know she could destroy you.'

Luther blinked at her.

Jenny snorted softly at her own ridiculousness and pinched at Luther's soft ears affectionately. 'What do _you_ think I should do?' she asked the cat, who inspected her fingers interestedly for more food and, finding none, merely regarded her with a vaguely unimpressed expression. 'What?' Jenny asked. 'Like _you've_ never lost your head over a girl before?'

Luther gave Jenny's hand a final nudge with his cold nose before standing and dropping to the floor with a soft patter.

Jenny sighed. 'You're right,' she told Luther as he slinked back into the kitchen. 'I should just walk away.'

* * *

><p><strong>Really Jenny? Taking advice from a cat? Fairly sure that's the first sign of madness ...<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you so much for the reviews :) I absolutely love getting them.**

**I hope you enjoy this new chapter. I feel morally obligated to tell you that I was wearing a blue plaid shirt when I wrote this :D**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

Snow clouds were swirling thick and grey in the sky, sending fat white flakes whirling thick and fast to the ground, and Emma thought of Jenny. Just like every other morning since she had seen her. It was a curious thing – she couldn't seem to focus on anything without her thoughts drifting back to that chance encounter in the street: the cold hard shock of hitting the road, the weight of Jenny's hand against her shoulder, her eyes bright and sharp beneath the dark flick of her eyelashes, her inimitable scent as she leaned in close ... all moments that were now somehow indelibly seared into Emma's mind.

Emma scowled, her hands shoved deep into her pockets and her bag banging enthusiastically against her thigh as she walked. It was early and the first signs of daylight were struggling to penetrate the thick snow clouds. The streetlights that lined the road still shone their ephemeral white, highlighting the snow drifts on the pavement as if the snow itself was glowing. Emma looked up at the indifferent faces of the buildings she walked past, their windows dark, the spaces behind them motionless. Some people were still sleeping. She couldn't keep from wondering where Jenny lived...

Emma frowned and shook her head. It was _Jenny's_ stupid fault that she had to walk to work in the first place, her bike reduced to an obsolete cage of twisted metal slumped dejectedly in her hallway. She scuffed at the snow angrily, thinking about the cost of the repairs, and the irony of the fact that it was_ Jenny's_ company taking away her only source of income. But that was what Jenny did best, Emma thought bitterly – she just turned up unannounced to turn your whole world upside down, and then left again just as quickly as she'd arrived, leaving you alone and uncertain and wondering if maybe you'd imagined it all in the first place. She made you fall in with love her ... and then she rejected you.

Emma scoffed audibly at her own ridiculousness. It wasn't _love_, she scolded herself, just infatuation. Jenny had been exciting – all new and dynamic – and Emma had just let herself become swept up by her energy. And maybe, just for a second (though she'd deny it if she was asked), all the energy and hype and magnetism had confused her just enough to make her _feel_ like she was in love. Well, it had certainly hurt like a broken heart when she found out Jenny had slept with Ben...

Emma sighed, pushing away the unwelcome influx of adolescent heartache that suddenly washed over her. It had been a good thing Jenny had slept with Ben really, as Emma had told herself at the time, when the tears had finally stopped and the pain had ebbed to a sort of dull apathy. Jenny had proved that she wasn't worth risking everything for, and Emma had pulled herself together so she could quite rightly redirect her attention to her friends: to Timo, and to Luzi, who had far more pressing problems than a juvenile crush that had gone sour. Besides, Jenny had clearly done alright for herself, Emma thought, if she was busy erecting hotels all over the city.

Emma trudged through the snow for what felt like hours, her eyes narrowed against the keen wind and thickening snow that flurried frenetically around her. The street sweepers appeared eventually, scurrying along beside her, trying their best to clear away the snowfall before it was turned into that grey and brown sludge churned up by car tyres. Emma exhaled in relief as the bookstore came into view, her hot breath curling into the air in front of her. Her toes were numb and her nose and ears stung from the cold. She stamped her feet vigorously against the doorstep to dislodge the compacted snow before pushing through the door into the shop. The bell tinkled optimistically as Emma shoved the door closed behind her and leaned heavily against it, siphoning off the blustering wind that tried to accompany her into the shop.

Two faces looked up sharply upon Emma's sudden entrance. One was Hotte. And the other was ...

'Jenny,' Emma said, reflexively, before she could stop herself. _What was she doing here?_

Jenny nodded politely at Emma before turning her attention back to Hotte.

Emma felt the familiar twist of anxiety in her stomach at Jenny's presence. She stood frozen to the spot, watching the pair's interaction from her position by the door. They were smiling as they talked, and Jenny laughed girlishly at one of Hotte's remarks. Emma watched through narrowed eyes as Jenny touched him lightly on the arm as she leaned in closer to look at the laptop screen in front of them. Her gaze flicked back up to Emma momentarily, and her mouth twitched with an uncertain smile before she looked back down again at the screen. She withdrew her hand from Hotte's arm and slid both flattened palms slowly along the surface of the counter until she was leaning even further forward, her weight resting on her straightened arms. Emma's gaze travelled instinctively to the cleavage Jenny's position revealed, until she internally admonished herself and looked pointedly away.

Emma shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, inwardly debating whether to try to involve herself in what was going on, or to remain a safe distance away from it. She sighed heavily, knowing her curiosity would break her resolve in the end, and tentatively moved towards the counter.

Jenny looked up and smiled as Emma edged hesitantly closer. 'Hi,' she said, standing up straight.

'What are you doing?' Emma asked, peering sceptically at the laptop screen.

'Oh, haven't you heard?' Jenny asked with a smile. 'Hotte's got a new business plan for the shop.'

'He has?' Emma asked, squinting at the laptop as Hotte scrolled through a bunch of brightly coloured graphs, followed by endless tables of statistics. Emma frowned as the indecipherable information whizzed across the screen. 'What does any of that mean?' Emma asked him.

Hotte sighed. 'You'd know if you'd taken any interest in helping me,' he huffed.

Emma glanced uncertainly at Jenny. 'I ... I didn't think you were being _serious_,' she admitted quietly.

'I'm deadly serious,' Hotte told her, his expression sober. 'This is our chance to fight the power and corruption of capitalism.'

'With graphs?' Emma asked cynically. She saw Jenny try to stifle a smile.

Hotte huffed as he looked back at the screen. 'Well _Jenny_ thinks I'm on to something,' he muttered.

Emma glanced at Jenny suspiciously. She avoided Emma's gaze, taking a sudden interest in the chipping paint of her fingernails. 'I see ...' Emma said. 'Well I'd be careful about handing over too much of your vital statistics to the corrupt capitalist if I were you Hotte,' she warned.

Rather than rising to the antagonism, Jenny merely looked up at Emma and smirked, her cheeks dimpling and her eyes shining with mischief.

Emma looked away, unable to hold the gaze.

'These returns are certainly impressive Dennis,' she heard Jenny say. 'You'll have to keep me posted.'

'Oh don't worry,' he said enthusiastically. 'I will. We could meet about it next week?'

'Sure.'

Emma rolled her eyes but jumped in alarm as she felt a hand close gently around her forearm. She looked up astonishment to see Jenny staring earnestly back at her. 'Come outside with me?' she requested in a quiet voice. 'I've got something to show you.'

Confusion settled around Emma's features. 'What?'

Jenny smiled and tugged a little more forcefully at Emma's arm. 'It's a surprise.'

Emma slowly withdrew her arm from Jenny's grip. 'A surprise?' she repeated.

Jenny nodded, biting her bottom lip as she reached out a hand and gently brushed some snow from the peak of Emma's hat.

Emma physically recoiled from the gesture, stooping to avoid Jenny's touch.

Jenny merely seemed amused at Emma's mystified face. 'Don't look so frightened,' she assured her. 'It's a good surprise.'

Emma eyed her warily, unsure if _any _surprise from Jenny was ever a good surprise.

'Trust me?' Jenny asked softly, her eyebrows raised in expectation.

Emma frowned, unconvinced. She'd learnt the hard way _not_ to trust Jenny with anything. But as Jenny turned and pushed through the door, Emma found herself obediently following her outside.

* * *

><p>Jenny hunched her shoulders against the cold as she led Emma around to the side of the building. She stopped in front of the metal railings of the cycle parking and turned back to face Emma. 'See?' she said, gesturing to a brand new bike chained modestly to the railings. 'A good surprise, right?'<p>

'What's this?' Emma asked, her eyes wide with surprise as she looked from the bike and back to Jenny.

'It's a bike,' Jenny said before frowning with concern. 'Maybe you hit your head a bit too hard in that crash ...'

Emma shook her head in frustration. 'OK I know it's a bike,' she clarified, 'but ... why is it here?'

Jenny smiled. 'Well I couldn't just leave you with that wreck of yours,' she said. 'Besides, working out all the insurance for the repairs would've taken ages and seeing the crash was my fault ...' she shrugged, 'it was a lot easier just to buy a new one,' Jenny explained nonchalantly, as if it all mattered very little to her.

'But ...' Emma looked back down at the bike, 'this is a _much_ better bike that my old one,' she protested. 'I've seen these in the shops. They're _really_ expensive.'

Jenny shrugged again. 'I don't really know much about bikes,' she said. 'I just got what looked good.' She smiled and tapped the frame lightly with her hand. 'See? It's red.'

There was a long pause.

'I can't accept this,' Emma said quietly.

Jenny's smiled faded. 'What?'

'It's ... I ...' Emma struggled to articulate herself. 'I just can't. I'm sorry. Please just ... take it back.'

Jenny's shoulders slumped in dejection. 'I ... I don't understand.'

'No well ... you wouldn't,' Emma muttered.

Jenny frowned and she folded her arms defensively. 'What's that supposed to mean?' she asked.

'You can't just buy me off with some ... bike,' Emma said, gesturing to the inanimate object.

Jenny looked taken aback by the suggestion. 'What? Emma I'm not–'

'You can't just turn up out of the blue to destroy the business I work for,' Emma continued, ignoring Jenny's interjection, 'and just flash your money around when you know we're doing _all_ we can not to lose our jobs. It's just so ... it's so ...'

'Endearing?' Jenny suggested.

'Insensitive,' Emma told her angrily.

Jenny sighed. 'Look Emma,' she said calmly, 'I'm just trying to make things right.'

Emma glared at her. 'You want to make things _right_?' she asked. 'Then just leave us alone,' she told her. 'Leave the _shop_ alone.'

Jenny gaze darted to the floor. 'I'm afraid that's out of my hands,' she said.

Emma sighed in exasperation. 'Fine,' she said. 'But I'm not accepting this just to make you feel less guilty.'

'_Guilty_?' Jenny asked incredulously. 'I'm not _guilty _of anything. Jesus Christ, Emma, it's just business.'

'Yeah?' Emma asked. 'Well it's more than just _business_ to me.' And with that she turned from Jenny and stormed back into the shop, leaving deep, heavy footprints in the freshly fallen snow.

Jenny stared after her in disbelief before looking back at the bike. 'I knew I should've got the blue one,' she muttered.

* * *

><p>'I mean can you even <em>believe<em> her,' Emma ranted at Hotte as he jabbed disinterestedly at the keyboard of his laptop.

'I don't know what you're making such a fuss about Emma,' he answered. 'You got a free bike out of it didn't you? I'd just accept it and move on. Unless you fancy walking to work every day.'

Emma emitted a wordless growl of frustration at Hotte's statement. 'That's not the point,' she told him agitatedly. 'She can't just _bribe_ people like that, just because money's no issue for her.'

Hotte sighed. 'That wasn't _bribery_,' he assured her. 'That was just Jenny giving you what you were owed. If she wrecked your bike she should be the one that pays for it,' he reasoned.

Emma just shook her head. 'Well maybe I don't _want_ her to pay for it,' she objected. 'I'm giving the goddamn thing right back.'

'Oh for god's sake Emma,' Hotte said, snapping his laptop shut, 'can you not just drop it? We _need_ Jenny onside if my business plan's ever going to work.'

Emma laughed a harsh sarcastic laugh. 'Are you kidding me?' she asked. 'You don't _seriously_ think she's ever going to go for that, do you?'

Hotte opened his mouth to justify his claim but Emma spoke over him.

'Let me give you a little piece of friendly advice Hotte,' she said. 'The only thing that motivates Jenny Hartmann is the acquisition of things. And this shop? It's just another conquest.'

Hotte crossed him arms. 'And how would you know that?' he asked.

'Trust me,' Emma said, 'I just do.'


End file.
